The biggest risk the Health Service Executive (HSE) is facing at present as a result of the cyberattack on Friday is that its core patient management system and core radiology system are both out of action, the organisation’s chief operations officer has said.
Anne O’Connor said on Sunday that radiology services had been particularly badly hit across the country and that the radiation oncology system for patients with cancer has been compromised across the board.
She said in some cases hospitals have reverted to paper-based, manual systems.
The attack, which began on Friday by a criminal gang in another country, has seen health service data encrypted and possibly stolen, Ms O’Connor said, and the criminal gang has demanded a ransom in return for a code to release the encrypted data.
Ms O’Connor said the HSE is not responsible for any decision on paying the ransom, the amount of which has not been revealed. It is…
